Pictured above: Pearson Benson, left, a Westlake High School junior and Student Member to the Board of Education, talks with Maryland Sen. Thomas “Mac” Middleton, right, at a legislative breakfast hosted by the Board of Education on Dec. 1st. The Board met with several members of the Southern Maryland delegation to talk about topics such as testing and teacher retention.
Charles County, MD – Southern Maryland legislators expressed their support for education and funding at the Charles County Board of Education’s annual legislative breakfast, but warned budgets, especially for school construction, get tighter each year.
“We’re not going to back off on school construction, on standards, on education funding. … We don’t know the end of the story, but the people here are going to stand firm on protecting public education,” Sen. Thomas “Mike” Miller said at the close of the Dec. 1 meeting at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building.
The annual breakfast is a time for the Board of Education and Charles County’s legislative delegation to share information, concerns and educational issues before the Maryland General Assembly convenes in January.
The group tackled topics including testing, teacher retention, construction funding and unfunded mandates. Del. C.T. Wilson expressed concern about the requirement of English Language Learners (ELL) students to take the PARCC assessment. He cited the regional ELL program at Maurice J. McDonough High School and the difficulty students face taking a highly rigorous test when they cannot yet speak English or read the test.
Del. Sally Jameson questioned how much time PARRC testing takes, and Del. Edith Patterson asked about career and college readiness standards. Director of Research and Assessment Cliff Eichel outlined state requirements for PARCC and the reduction of the testing window this year from 40 to 20 days. He said tests are done in three separate sessions that never last longer than one to one-and-a-half hours at a time. “In actuality, we have been able to complete testing in 10 days,” Eichel said.
Eichel said the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has been slow in providing score scales and information about how scores will count for different requirements, such as determining if a student is college and career ready. “Students need to know the rest of the story and when the test counts so they know what they are working toward. We would like to know how the story ends,” Eichel said.
Hill said the changes to the standards sometime happens so fast, “we get whiplash.” She asked the legislators to support staying the course with the new curriculum, test and academic standards.
Human Resources Executive Director Pam Murphy talked about teacher recruitment and retention, noting Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) has shortages in special education, world languages and math. The number of students entering or choosing education as a career has decreased dramatically in recent years, shrinking the pool of applicants and causing a need to recruit outside of Maryland. Staff talked about efforts to encourage local students to pursue degrees in education and ways to entice them to return to Charles County to teach.
Assistant Superintendent of Supporting Services Keith Hettel asked where legislators think the state is headed in the school construction area. Jameson said requests continue to outpace the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget, which Gov. Larry Hogan has set at $250 million for the coming fiscal year. Sen. Thomas “Mac” Middleton said Maryland is bumping the limits of its capital debt affordability and the money gets tighter every year while the renovation list continues to grow.
Board Member Barbara Palko expressed the Board’s position that mandates from the state should come with full funding. Hill provided the example of prekindergarten, an unfunded requirement by the state, which cost CCPS $4 million in fiscal year 2015. If the state would include prekindergarten students in the funding formula, the school system could receive $3.4 million in additional state funding, Hill said.
All members of the Charles County legislative delegation, including newly appointed Delegate Susie Proctor, Charles County Commissioner President Peter Murphy and Commissioner Vice President Ken Robinson attended the meeting with the Board of Education.
Charles County Public Schools provides 26,300 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 36 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.
